The Angels brought in three players for a tryout Sunday. Each was an athlete with experience at the highest level of professional sports. As of Monday morning, they were still waiting for a call back.

Cam Fowler, Viktor Fasth and Nick Bonino (pictured above, left to right) weren’t exactly waiting. The three Anaheim Ducks were getting ready for tonight’s game against the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale. Sunday was a rare off-day in between road games in the same city, so the Ducks took advantage of their invitation to join their Anaheim brethren for a day at the ballpark.

“It was very cool for them to allow us to come in,” Fowler said. “It’s always cool for one professional athlete to see another, how they go about their business.”

Fowler got a close-up look at Angels pitcher Jered Weaver, standing in the batter’s box for three of Weaver’s pitches during the team practice at Tempe Diablo Stadium. The 21-year-old Michigan native played baseball until his sophomore year of high school, when he decided to concentrate on hockey. Did he have a chance against Weaver?

“No. No chance,” Fowler said. “The bat would’ve still been on my shoulder when it was time to swing.”

Fowler did the best of the three Ducks during a casual batting practice — “some nice, smooth 50-mph (pitches) right in the meat of the strike zone,” he said.

Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said he wasn’t worried about losing any of the three to the team across the street. If anything, he might have taken a lesson from the Angels.

“I’ve gone to NFL camps, this is my first baseball camp, and you try to pick things up everywhere you go,” Boudreau said. “I picked something up that I’m going to use in our camp. The (Angels) organization, they’re going to have upwards of 140 players there. How they use all the fields — very similar to football where they rotate — and the amount of coaches that are there, I thought was really interesting in implementing into hockey if it’s feasible. I think there are ways during training camp to make it a little more palatable, not as dreary as most training camps end up being.”

]]>http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2013/03/04/the-day-the-los-angeles-angels-of-anaheim-hosted-the-ducks/feed/0Where to find your deactivated Ducks, Part 2.http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/21/where-to-find-your-deactivated-1/
http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/21/where-to-find-your-deactivated-1/#commentsWed, 21 Sep 2011 16:07:28 +0000http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/21/where-to-find-your-deactivated-1/Continue reading →]]>Tonight’s game against the Sharks offers Honda Center patrons a chance to see some different Ducks players out of uniform. Here’s where to go:

]]>http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/21/where-to-find-your-deactivated-1/feed/0Phoenix 7, Ducks 4.http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/20/phoenix-7-ducks-4/
http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/20/phoenix-7-ducks-4/#commentsTue, 20 Sep 2011 22:13:03 +0000http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/20/phoenix-7-ducks-4/Continue reading →]]>The first game of the NHL preseason is a haphazard ritual, its beauty comparable to gargling the morning breath out of one’s mouth at the crack of dawn, its timing and coordination no better than of a pack of hyenas attempting to divide a carcass of raw meat.

There is no need here to romanticize the hockey-viewing experience of 12,544 announced spectators at Honda Center — it was pretty ugly — but there were a few takeaways.

First, the quick and dirty game synopsis:

Igor Bobkov played roughly the first 30 minutes and John Gibson played the last 30. It was the first NHL game action of any sort for either goalie (Bobkov was at last year’s NHL camp and did not appear in an exhibition game), but the seven goals couldn’t totally be pinned on them. “We’ve got to work on defensive-zone coverage. That’s what we have to work on, obviously,” head coach Randy Carlyle said.

Sean Zimmerman, Kyle Palmieri, Andrew Cogliano and Nate Guenin scored goals for the Ducks, who never led in the game. The offensive effort wasn’t much to blink at, either.

“We just seemed to be slapping the puck around in too many situations,” Carlyle said. “From our standpoint it’s an evaluation game.”

On with the evaluating then …
Cogliano, mostly a center in Edmonton, said he had never played a full game at left wing before tonight. Peter Holland was at center and Teemu Selanne at right wing on his line, and they combined to score a goal in the second period when Cogliano tapped in the rebound of Holland’s shot with Curtis McElhinney out of position. Carlyle said he’s planning to try Cogliano both at left wing and center.

More Carlyle on Cogliano: “He didn’t, from my standpoint, play anywhere near what he was capable of playing, but we had a few guys in that category.” Carlyle already alluded to Cogliano’s untapped potential on Sunday and it seems like the expectations are pretty high for the 24-year-old.

Four ex-Ducks were in the Coyotes’ lineup: McElhinney, Petteri Nokelainen, Kyle Chipchura and Nathan Oystrick. Chipchura fed Nokelainen on a breakaway at the net for empty-net goal with 17 seconds left.

Carlyle singled out Holland and defenseman Nate Guenin as two players who “were separating themselves a little bit from the others.”

Like Holland, Emerson Etem was playing on a line with two more experienced players (Saku Koivu and Palmieri) and looked good using his speed to get open, then feeding Palmieri for a goal, early in the second period. “He had his flashes,” Carlyle said of Etem. “His game is about speed and taking the puck wide, but I didn’t think it was as evident as it normally is in his situation.”

Cogliano on Holland (who is the subject of tomorrow’s notebook): “He kind of reminds me of Getzlaf. He’s big, got good hands, he’s smart. … He looks like he can fit in now.”

San Jacinto native Jake Newton had the primary assist on Guenin’s power-play goal in the third period. Newton and Cogliano (both plus-1) were the only Ducks with plus ratings.

Reigning Hobey Baker winner Andy Miele (goal, two assists) wreaked havoc on the Ducks’ defense. If the rookie center keeps it up as the quality of competition increases, he could become the electric scorer the Coyotes have lacked in recent years.

Great job with the pregame video tribute to Ruslan Salei, along with the other former NHLers who lost their lives this summer. I saw the same video as a segment on NHL Live! today. Definitely got the crowd going.

]]>http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/20/phoenix-7-ducks-4/feed/0Where to find your deactivated Ducks.http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/20/where-to-find-your-deactivated/
http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/20/where-to-find-your-deactivated/#commentsTue, 20 Sep 2011 17:04:04 +0000http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/20/where-to-find-your-deactivated/Continue reading →]]>Players not appearing in tonight’s game will be working at various locations at Honda Center during tonight’s game against the Phoenix Coyotes and again tomorrow against the San Jose Sharks. Players and times are subject to change:

]]>http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/20/where-to-find-your-deactivated/feed/0Andrew Gordon’s Teemu Selanne connection.http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/19/andrew-gordons-teemu-selanne-c/
http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/19/andrew-gordons-teemu-selanne-c/#commentsMon, 19 Sep 2011 22:01:29 +0000http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/19/andrew-gordons-teemu-selanne-c/Continue reading →]]>Andrew Gordon’s first-period goal accounted for all the offense in the Ducks’ 6-1 loss to the Sharks on Wednesday night. Gordon, the former Washington Capitals prospect who signed a two-year contract in the off-season, elicited a positive reaction from Randy Carlyle after an otherwise dreary game for the Ducks.

“I thought that Gordon made an impression. I thought that he was, again, a player that showed the determination and the fire that he showed right from the start of camp to impress some people,” the coach said.

Here’s something you probably didn’t know about Gordon.
The first NHL game he ever attended was on March 28, 1993 in Winnipeg. The Jets were hosting the Los Angeles Kings and a seven-year-old Gordon held on to every detail of that night — literally and figuratively.

“It was a mid-afternoon game,” he recalled. “They broadcast it back to Finland. When you
walked in the door, they handed you little Finnish flags with (Teemu Selanne’s) face
on the back. Teppo Numminen was playing at the same time. I had this
little keepsake we had forever from that game.”

Then a 22-year-old rookie, Selanne had scored nine goals in his last six games to reach 68 for the season. That was already 15 more than Mike Bossy’s rookie record of 53, but Selanne wasn’t done. He scored two more goals that night — numbers 69 and 70 — en route to an incomparable 76-goal season. The Kings and Jets tied, 3-3.

“It was a cool way to introduce myself to the league,” Gordon said. “From then on,
Teemu was my favorite player growing up. When I first realized what the
NHL was, he was scoring a million goals that year.”

Gordon and Selanne are teammates now, which is why Gordon said he hasn’t been gushing about his first hockey memory to the 41-year-old Flash.

Still, Gordon had to feel like a fan again when Selanne announced seven days ago that he would return for a 19th NHL season. Before his first game, Gordon said, “my dad told me to watch Gretzky and I kept watching Teemu.”

Spoken like a true Duck.

]]>http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/19/andrew-gordons-teemu-selanne-c/feed/0Updates on Foster, Ryan, Macenauer; plan for tomorrow.http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/19/updates-on-foster-ryan-macenau/
http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/19/updates-on-foster-ryan-macenau/#commentsMon, 19 Sep 2011 17:00:43 +0000http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/19/updates-on-foster-ryan-macenau/Continue reading →]]>Kurtis Foster will have a procedure later
today at UCI Medical Center to remove a piece of wire from his left
thigh, the Ducks announced Monday, and the defenseman is expected to miss 2-4 weeks. Foster hasn’t been taking part in drills since training camp opened Saturday.

A team spokesperson said the wire was placed in Foster’s left leg during surgery that took place
to repair a fracture in March
2008. The wire was causing inflammation/irritation, and therefore will
be removed.

A two to four week timetable projects to Oct. 3 at the earliest and Oct. 17 at the latest. The Ducks play a preseason game in Helsinki on Oct. 4 and do not play in North America again until Oct. 14, a home game against San Jose. Foster’s availability for the Europe trip seems to be in jeopardy, which would open a door for the other defensemen bidding for an opening-day roster spot.

Some more injury updates:
Bobby Ryan was held out of Monday’s intrasquad scrimmage with a strained
groin muscle. “The training staff felt he was better just to rest
another day,” Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle said. “His strength is back, he feels much better
than he did yesterday. I suspect he’s going to skate tomorrow.”

Maxime Macenauer, who is also recovering from a strained groin, “is very close,” Carlyle said.

Mathieu Carle “didn’t feel very good today so, after about 5, 6 minutes on the bike, he shut it down,” said Carlyle, who didn’t know whether the defenseman sustained a concussion when he rammed head-first into the end boards during a drill Sunday.

The Ducks host the Phoenix Coyotes at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Honda Center in the first game of the preseason. Two goalies will split the 60 minutes, though Carlyle didn’t say which two. For his part, Jonas Hiller had not been told Monday afternoon whether or not he’d be in the game.

Peter Holland said he’s in the lineup, skating on a line with Andrew Cogliano and Teemu Selanne. Saku Koivu and Lubomir Visnovsky are also expected to be in the game.

Teemu Selanne said he wanted to decide whether or not to extend his playing career by September 16. Looks like he beat his own deadline by a full day.

The 41-year-old right wing signed a one-year, $4 million contract Thursday that will keep the Ducks’ leading scorer in uniform for another year. The annual summer ritual of will-he-retire-or-re-sign was getting old, and there was a sense of finality this time when Selanne spoke to reporters on a national conference call.

“I look at it as my last year,” Selanne said. “Hopefully it’s going to be a good
one.”

Full story to come in tomorrow’s editions. Some more interesting details:

Selanne said he “couldn’t do much for two or three weeks” after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in July. It was around this time that general manager Bob Murray drafted his Plan B in case Selanne decided to retire.

Murray put the contingency plan on paper, but never went as far as making phone calls to other teams or agents. “You have to be prepared,” he said.

Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli issued a statement after Selanne re-signed — a truly unique gesture: “We are ecstatic to have Teemu back. His devotion to our organization, his teammates, and the fans is unparalleled. He is a true Duck at heart and we can’t wait to see him flying down the ice again this season.”

Murray stressed that Selanne’s value goes beyond what he brings on the ice (which, last year, was 31 goals and 80 points). “It’s also Teemu in the dressing room. It’s Teemu walking to the rink every morning.”

The Winnipeg Jets called Selanne’s agent, Don Baizley, to see if Selanne had any interest in returning to the birthplace of his NHL career. He did not. “When you have four kids and a couple dogs, a couple
horses and stuff, there’s no way I could move anymore.”

]]>http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/15/selanne-ends-suspense-signs-1/feed/0Report: Most game-day social media dispatches banned.http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/15/report-most-game-day-social-me/
http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/15/report-most-game-day-social-me/#commentsThu, 15 Sep 2011 11:24:07 +0000http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/15/report-most-game-day-social-me/Continue reading →]]>According to ESPN.com, the NHL has enacted a social media policy that will prohibit most posts by players, coaches, trainers and management on game days.

Beginning at 11 a.m. on the day of a game, and ending after post-game media obligations, the aforementioned NHL employees won’t be allowed to post on social media websites. Nor can they use another person to post messages to their social media accounts.

The NHL is relatively late in restricting social media use by its personnel. Two years ago, the NFL instituted a policy similar in scope — blacking out social media statements less than 90 minutes before kickoff up until post-game media obligations commence. The NBA’s initial policy, also enacted in 2009, was almost identical.

Enacted in May, Major League Baseball’s policy (which you can download here) seems more focused on restricting the content of social media dispatches, rather than their time of day.

The team also announced that its 2011-12 regular season television schedule will be released “soon.”

]]>http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/14/ducks-announce-schedule-change/feed/0Ruslan Salei memorial.http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/09/ruslan-salei-memorial/
http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/09/ruslan-salei-memorial/#commentsFri, 09 Sep 2011 01:58:29 +0000http://www.insidesocal.com/ducks/2011/09/09/ruslan-salei-memorial/Continue reading →]]>Today I penned a story for Hockey Primetime that attempted to put the makeshift Ruslan Salei memorial outside Honda Center in a global context. You can read that here. After the jump, you’ll find a bunch of photos I snapped this afternoon. Warning: My photography skills are, for lack of a better word, rusty.